•
INTERNATIONAL
Brazil increases Refining Capacity The major expansion by Petroleo Brasiliero of its Matanpe refining facili ties in the state of Bahia will increase the company's refining facilities from 5000 to 37,000 barrels per day. Com plete expansion will include conversion of existing thermal cracking units to other operations integrated to the plant as well as new processing units for pro duction of gasoline, Diesel oil, LPG, lube oils, and waxes. Part of the offsite construction will be a marine ter minal for transport of petroleum and petroleum products. The resulting plant will, it is said, be the largest refinery installation ever constructed in South America as a single project. It will be designed to handle all types of native Brazilian crude, including Candeis, Itaparic, Don Joao, Mata, and Catu. It will in corporate one of the world's largest
wax plants, rated at 60 tons a day? and the nation's first lube oil plant, with a 3000-BPD capacity. Production of the lube oil plant is expected to answer Brazil's lube oil consumption for the next five years. Products of the total expansion are expected to contribute materially to Brazil's visualized refin ing capacity of 200,000 BPD, a goal established with the idea of reducing progressively the country's petroleum imports.
First for France West-central France, between the Vienne and Loire Rivers, will be the site of the first electro-nuclear power plant in the country. T o be built by France's nationalized electric power in dustry, the facilities are exepcted to be completed in 1959. The location at the confluence of the Loire and Vienne Rivers is one in which there are no resources for production
of hydroelectric power nor thermal energy. The nuclear reactor, which will use uranium with graphite as the modera tor, will be constructed in collaboration with the French Atomic Energy Com mission. The initial capacity is ex pected to be about 60,000 kilowatts. Expansion to 300,000 kilowatts is an ticipated.
S T j cal has awarded Stone & Webster Engi ψ 4 W | f W I I < C 9 Cm l i t
S
neering a contract to design and super vise construction of a phenol plant which will form one of the major com ponents of the petrochemical facilities being installed at Iwakuni City, Japan (C&EN, May 2 8 , page 2 6 6 4 ) . Plant will be first of its kind in the Eastern Hemisphere. > Koppers
International,
C.A„
has
been awarded contracts for t h e engi neering design and operating knowhow of a polystyrene plant b y Houil lères du Bassin de Lorraine of Merlebach, (Moselle), France. Koppers will provide ail engineering plans for the plant which is planned for the Department of Moselle, not far from the styrène monomer plant which Houillères du Bassin is constructing in Carling, under license from Koppers. • Fluor Corp. of Canada, Ltd., has been awarded a contract to perform detail engineering and construct a 4400-barrels-per-day Platformer and a 3600-barrels-per*-day Udex unit for Canadian Oil Refineries at Sarnia, Ont. Additional units will increase amount of high octane motor fuel and produce benzene, toluene, and xylene for chemical use.
Portuguese Commemorative Stamp
φ For Japan-Nuclear Techniques William O. Faxon, President of Tracerlab, Inc., (right), explains a feature of Tracerlab's automatic flow counter for K. Watanabe (left), of Toyomenka, Inc., and Sakae Shimizu of Japan. Shimizu, professor of physics at the University of Kyoto's Institute for Chemical Research, has been corresponding for a number of years with Tracerlab's technical director, Wendall C. Peacock (2nd from right), concerning plans for teaching nuclear techniques in Japan. In the course of his visit to this country, Shimizu expects to select a suitable atomic reactor for use in teaching his students at Kyoto. The Japanese scientist helped t o construct the Kyoto cyclotron. 4390
C&EN
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10,
1956
In commemoration of the cent e n a r y of Profess or Antonio Joaquin Ferreira D a Suva's birth, Portugalhas issued a 1e s c u d o green and 2.30e blue stamp, both using his portrait as design. Notable in European chemistry as teacher and author, he w a s director of the sciences faculty at the University of Oporto and author of a treastise on mineral and organic chemistry.
Construction of the $ 3 million project begins this fall with completion scheduled i n early summer, 1957. ^French a f f i l i a t e of S t a n d a r d Oil of
New Jersey, Esso Standard S.A.F., has abandoned its claims for oil research permits for Perigord area of southwestern France. The French firms, Compagnie des Pétroles de Guyenne and Compagnie Françaises d e s Pétroles were granted permits covering 1089 thousand hectares of the surface in which Esso Standard was primarily interested; the company therefore decided remaining surface w a s of no interest and decided t o abandon claims for oil research in the region. • Canada
Colors
a n d Chemicals
now
solka
of
Toronto, has been appointed distributor for Allied Chemical International's polyethylene. The company will market the low molecular weight polyethylene t o the paper, dairy, plastics, rubber, ink, bakery, and polish industries. • Per kin-Elmer is doubling t h e facilities of its West German subsidiary (Bodenseewerk Perkin-Elmer). Bodenseewerk manufactures P-E infrared spectrometers and Vapor Fractometers as well as its own line of instruments. Expansion program is expected to be completed in approximately six months. • Shell Chemical's wholly-owned subsidiary, Petrochemicals Ltd., has acquired Erinoid Ltd.'s 40% holdings in Styrene Products which thus becomes a wholly-owned subsidiary of Petrochemicals. Erinoid will continue to sell polystyrene and polystyrene derivatives manufactured by Styrène Products under trade name of Erinoid. • Bauxite deposit discovered in Cape York Peninsula, in northeastern corner of Australia, may be one of the world's largest. T h e field is said to extend over an area of 2000 square miles and to be 9 feet in depth. It is being tested by Enterprise Exploration Co., subsidiary of Consolidated Zinc of Melbourne. • French subsidiary of Dresser Industries of Dallas, Tex., has been formed. The newly-formed Société Française des Industries Dresser, S.A. will represent several of the Dresser industries in France and will provide technical services t o the Dresser companies operating on t h e continent. Headquarters of the new corporation will be in Paris. • Western Australia's Minister for Mines and Fisheries is touring the U . S. and Canada in an attempt to interest dollar capital in the establishment of a fully integrated steel industry in Western Australia. State already has rolling mills but now wants other plants necessary to make the industry self-con-
as effective R e q u i r e m e n t s of the caustic industry today are d e m a n d i n g greater purification o f caustic than i n the past. T o match t h e demand, SOLKA-FLOC* —
chemically p u r e w o o d cellulose—has been d e v e l o p e d t o the p o i n t w h e r e i t is consistently twice as effective for caustic purification. • · · a n d t h e only adsorbent t h a t also functions as a s u p e r i o r filter a i d T h e advantages o f S O L K A - F L O C as a
fast, safe filter aid for makers o f caustic soda, industrial metals, pharmaceuticals, a n d many other things, include . . . economical volume o f clarified f i l t r a t e . . . adsorption of impurities , β , stable ^re-coat . . . n o
" b l e e d i n g " o f filter a i d . . . n o loss o f c a k e d u e to pressure d r o p . . . n o abra s i o n of p u m p s or valves very little r e t e n t i o n of filtrate in filter cakes. S O L K A - F L O C comes i n a w i d e r a n g e of grades for your specific needs. For s a m p l e s and m o r e information, w r i t e D e p t . A F - 8 , o u r B o s t o n office. A representative w i l l g l a d l y call. *Sold in Canada by Brown Forest Products, Ltd., Montreal, Que. (Alpha-Floe)
®ROW^II COMPANY General Sales Office: 1 5 0 Causeway Street, B o s t o n 14, Mass. Mills: Berlin a n d Gorham, N . H . ; Corvsllis, Ore. SEPT.
iu,
Î9S6
C&EN
4391
NOW-
L O W COST
inter
MULTIPLE Humidity Tests
III|#9 w wi m
from Will
mou can afford multiple humidity tests. Because the Blue-M Vapor Temp costs only a quarter as much as a conventional humidity cabinet, now— for the same investment—you can run four different tests simultaneously with Blue-M Vapor Temps. End costly delays and pooling of test samples. Range: 20% relative humidity at 165° F to 100% at 75° F. Uses tap water a s coolant. This range is sufficient to meet most ASTM, JAN and MIL specifications. Big (16" diameter, 12" high) Pyrex test chamber permits full visibility and complete accessibility. Gives high humidity without condensation, thanks to annular mechanical convection. Circulating air is chilled, saturated and reheated on each cycle. Two dials control chamber condi tions automatically. Fast response—any condition reached and maintained i n 20 minutes. Air flow adjustable from 0 to 150 CFM. 16951T—Vapor Temp Humidity Chamber, 115 volts AC, 1,200 watts.. $ 5 9 5 . 0 0
B L U E - M PORTABLE C O O L I N G COILS •
Cools down to — 18° C
•
Close temperature control ±0.15° C
•
Compressor runs continuously— lasts longer.
Here are the first practical, really portable cooling coils for the lab. I n an insulated bath with proper circulation, these coils provide a source of conl rolled cooling liquid for many industrial applications. Also recommended for obtaining lower humidities with the Vapor-Temp where required. Entire system Cat. No.
Model No.
Coil Size
Watts
9891T 9891T
PCC-1 PCC-2
7" diam. χ 1 2 " high 7" diam. χ 16 f f high
250 350
\X7~i11 V Τ
hermetically sealed—tinned copper coils are connected to compressor with armored flexible tubing, encased in rubber, 6' long. Com pressor VA HP Vz HP
BTU/hr at 5° C
BTU/hr at - 1 8 ° C
Price
1200 2400
500 1200
$397.50 490.00
CORPORATION
JL JL JL
and subsidiaries
Specialists
in
Scientific
Supply
ROCHESTER 3, N.Y. · ATLANTA 1, GA. · NEW YORK 12, N.Y. · BALTIMORE 24, MD. · BUFFALO 5, Ν. Υ.
4392
C&EN
SEPT.
10. 1 9 5 6
tained. The state also is looking for dollar markets for blue asbestos, of which there are large deposits in West ern Australia. • Germany's chemical producer, Farbwerke Hoechst AG., had sales in 1955 of approximately $302 million, an i n crease of 12.7% over 1954. Exports were nearly 3 0 % of total sales ( a p proximately $90 million). In the first five months of 1956, the company's sales rose by 1 0 % as compared with the corresponding 1955 period. • Industrial Models has formed a sub sidiary at Manchester, England, known as American Industrial Models, Ltd. The new company is the second branch in Europe, the first formed at T h e Hague two years ago. • Mexico's Adhesivos Resistol, S.A. and the Catalin Corp. of America have completed a five-year agreement for exchange of information and knowhow. Specifically, Catalin will disclose its formulas and technical information pertaining to manufacture and equip ment in connection with phenolic, cresylic, resorcinol, melamine and urea liquid resins for adhesives, textiles, and paper treating purposes. Adhesivos, i n turn, will supply Catalin with informa tion on any processes developed b y Adhesivos in the areas covered. • The 1 9 5 5 report of the Board of Netherlands State Mines states that a program now under way has as its objective increasing production capac ity of its nitrogen fixation plants b y about 35,000 tons of nitrogen a year. Much of the additional ammonia out put will go into production of fertilizer urea which the country hopes to ex port. Output of nitrate fertilizers will also be increased. • ICI has installed extra safety measures at its experimental titanium plant at Birmingham and the plant is again in production (C&EN, June 18, page 2 9 5 7 ) . Company says the explosion which occurred in experimental furnace melting titanium granules was not so serious as reported and deliveries of titanium from the plant were not held up unduly. • Buckeye Cellulose has formed a n e w European division to handle sales of dissolving wood and cotton linter pulp. The new division, to b e called Buckeye Cellulose Division of Procter & Gamble Beige S. Α., will be affiliated with t h e Belgian company and will use facili ties already established by P&G in Brussels. The Compagnie Commer ciale des Celluloses will continue to represent Buckeye in European sales of wood pulps and bleached cotton iinters pulp used in papermaking.
